Windows being resized when reconnecting to a remote desktop session

Michael Sandells 11

Hi,

I am using remote desktop to connect from one Win10 Enterprise PC to another, full-screen.

Both are physical PCs, not VMs, and are both connected to a monitor. Both monitors run at the same native resolution, with display scaling at 100%. Both are single-monitor systems.

If, for any reason, my remote session drops and I have to reconnect, I find that the windows in the remote session have been moved and resized, as if the resolution was briefly lower. Windows move towards the upper left, leaving a cleared area at the base and right of the screen.

Any reason why this might happen? Anywhere to look for logs that might shed light on what's going on?

Eleven Yu (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 10,766 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-10-08T05:41:56.95+00:00

Hi,

May I know what's the resolution you are using for the monitors?

Could you please share a screenshot of your issue so that we could better understand it?

Thanks,
Eleven
Michael Sandells 11 Reputation points

2020-10-08T14:44:17.403+00:00

Not sure why my above reply is listed as deleted. Do I need to post it again?
JD 1 Reputation point

2020-12-21T02:03:30+00:00

I see the same problem and here is my setup.

Remote Machine:
Win10 202H VM (hosted on Server 2012R2)

Local/Client Machine:
Win10 1909 (or win7 mstsc with rdp8.1)
Physical screen resolution 2560x1440.

Repro steps:
Run mstsc from the client machine and connect to the WIN10 VM in full screen mode
Open an Edge window. Don't maximize. Leave it floating. Resize it so it covers about 1/4 of your screen.
Move the Edge window to the lower right corner of the screen.
Disconnect the remote session
Reconnect to the VM in full screen mode again
Notice the Edge window is now moved up and to the left.

My guess of what happened:
The VM max screen resolution is 1920x1080. When the remote session has windows sitting outside 1920x1080 and disconnect, those windows are moved so they are within the 1920x1080 region. If this theory is correct, you can repro this problem as long as your local physical screen resolution is higher than the max resolution on the remote machine.

Thanks
Joe
wwwayobnet 1 Reputation point

2020-12-22T21:13:04.263+00:00

3ayob.wordpress.com
Robert Holloman 11 Reputation points

2021-10-21T16:24:28.157+00:00

I am having the same issue and it drives me BSC. I recently purchased an ex$pensive 4k monitor at home specifically so that its resolution would exactly match my work monitor (in fact I purchased the exact same model monitor) so that I wouldn't have to deal with moving/resizing windows (or deal with windows lost off screen) every time I switch from working from home vs. working at work. But now it's worse than before: I have to move windows every time I switch from remote to on-site, from on-site to remote, AND now every time I make a RDP connection. Also, there's a VPN problem that causes my RDP connection to drop for a minute or so a few times a day. It auto-reconnects, but my windows get shoved back towards the middle of the screen every...single...time. Ugh!
Professor Doozy 1 Reputation point

2022-01-24T15:23:32.733+00:00

Robert have you tried using a .RDP settings file? This file allows you to specify all of the settings for the RDP session and then what you can do is create a shortcut to run MSTSC and pass the file, e.g. "C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe C:\Users\Robert\Documents\work.rdp". I think the way I did it was I set everything up with MSTSC and then clicked "Save As..." on the "General" tab and then from there I tweaked the settings as per my work environment. Now all I have to do is click on the shortcut I made and the settings file takes care of making sure everything is the way I want it (my monitors kept being switched around and it was driving me nuts). Check it out and see if it's something that may resolve the issue you're experiencing. Good luck!

6 answers

emrah kaya 0 Reputation points

2024-11-27T08:01:33.5+00:00

Edit: Duplicate, cannot delete myself.

I had the same issue, my windows were resizing and their heights were getting 100-200 px.

I have applied all the suggested Group Policy settings here and from other similar issues, but none of them helped.

Then during my repeated reconnect tests, I have noticed that the windows are shown as normal for a moment and then getting resized.

In my case, I had configured a non-standard resolution (by editing the rdp file), 1750x1050 which fits well for my needs. I thought that might be the case and changed it to a standard 1680x1050, and my issues were gone. Thus, try using a standard resolution (The one you select from the Remote Desktop connect window). I hope this resolves your problem as well.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
emrah kaya 0 Reputation points

2024-11-27T08:05:24.9833333+00:00

moderators, please delete this duplicate answer
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.

Share via

Windows being resized when reconnecting to a remote desktop session

6 answers

Your answer